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Christopher Zalla, a graduate of the film program at Columbia University, makes an impressive debut with this suspense feature about illegal immigrants and stolen identity. A young man (Jorge Adrian Espindola) crosses the border illegally with a letter of introduction to the father in Brooklyn he's never known; along the way he's befriended and robbed by a hustler (Armando Hernandez) who uses the letter to insinuate himself with the father (Jesus Ochoa), a portly cook with gay impulses. Meanwhile the real son falls under the wing of a beautiful but greasy heroin addict (Paola Mendoza in a standout performance). Zalla spent his early years bumping around Europe, Africa, and South America, and he has a good feel for the transience of identity. Also known as Padre Nuestro. In English and subtitled Spanish.
ByJ.R. Jones